


Deal with the Devil

by junjoumisaki



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Developing Relationship, Engagement, M/M, Nico is a a good friend, Out of Character, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-06-16 11:30:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15436098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junjoumisaki/pseuds/junjoumisaki
Summary: When Percy was eleven, he made a deal with Hades to get his mother back. Seven years later it's time for Hades to fully collect on that deal, but it's honestly not at all what Percy thought it would be.





	1. A deal is Made

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry if the characters are a bit out of character, I haven't read the books in a while.

Percy stared longingly at his mother’s comatose form, trapped inside a translucent bubble that was held aloft by the god of the underworld.

“Please!” He cried, “Let her go, please.”

“And what can you give me in return, son of Poseidon? You have nothing on you aside from a flimsy backpack, and it’s not like your friends have anything to offer either,” he said, gesturing towards where Annabeth and Grover lay unconscious at his feet. “Just what can you give me in return for turning her over to you?”

“I-I don’t know… please,” he said, unable to think about anything other than his mother. Now that he knew she was alive, he couldn’t leave her here, no matter what the cost was. “A-Anything… You can have anything, just… please… please give her back.” 

Hades smiled, the boy was his. “So if I said I wanted you in exchange for your mother, would you still say ‘anything’?” he inquired, giving the boy a chance to back out, but was confident the boy wouldn’t change his mind. 

Percy took a step back. Did Hades, god of the freaking underworld, just say that he wanted him in exchange for his mother? Well that didn’t make any sense. “Um… Lord Hades, sir, I’m not sure if you understand, but if I traded places with my mom, I wouldn’t really have her back, if you could explain that a bit more, that’d be great.”

Hades constricted his throat in order to hold back a laugh. Yes, this boy would be his when he came of age. “What I mean is, is that you’d be mine. You could still stay with your mom, go to camp, hangout with your friends, all those other things that kids your age like to do, but you’d be mine. You’d offer me prayers like you do your father at meal times, you’d answer me immediately if I ever call for you, and you’d sleep in my cabin. Not right away seeing as I don’t have one, but when I do have one, you will. But! If you break any of the rules I just told you or any future rules or orders I may or may not give you, without proper reasoning behind it, I will rescind on our deal and reclaim your mother’s soul,” he explained, shadows contorting menacingly as he finished his explanation. “Now, do we have a deal?”

***

Percy jumped away, easily missing the sword that swooshed by him. Both swordsmen took a fighting stance again. The other lunged, hoping to take the other by surprise with his quick attack, Percy sidestepped him, leaving his foot out just enough to trip his opponent. Percy placed his blade at the neck of the fallen warrior. “You’re dead.”

“All right, can anyone tell me where Henry went wrong?” Percy asked, helping the young eleven year old to his feet. 

There was a loud clamoring of voices as all the younger kids of Camp Half-Blood tried to answer at once. 

Percy chuckled lightly as the boy he was fighting gave him an embarrassed grin. 

Percy had just turned eighteen, and was now helping out at Camp as the new sword instructor. The battle two years ago had left its scar on the camp. They lost a lot of good campers, as well as friends. But with the new rules that Percy demanded of the gods, things at camp were going more smoothly than they had in, well, forever. They had new cabins being built almost every other week for a new camper of one of the minor gods, and Nico planned on finishing the Hades cabin by late afternoon of that day.

That last one worried him the most. Hades hadn’t really called on the deal that they made, though Percy made sure he offered prayers to Hades at every meal like he had been ordered. The only time Hades had actually called on him to give him a task was when he asked Percy to keep an eye on Nico after Bianca joined the hunters of Artemis. Great job he did there… but Hades never reclaimed he mom so he guessed he didn’t mess up too badly. 

He still remembered the words he had said though “If you break any of the rules I just told you or any future rules I may or may not make, without proper reasoning behind it, I will rescind on our deal and reclaim your mother’s soul”, those words never failed to send a shiver of fear down his spine. 

“Hey, Percy,” his girlfriend Annabeth shouted from across the arena. “Nico finished the cabin, and wants you there for the unveiling.”  
Percy sent a strained smile in her direction. “I’ll be right there!” he called.

“Well, that’s it for today I guess.” He said, looking down at the disappointed faces of the kids around him. “Aww come on guys! I know you want a break,” he said brightly, hoping to cheer them up. “Last one to the lake is a scallop!” The kids all shouted and ran towards the water. Hopefully, Chiron wouldn’t be too mad at him for changing their schedule. 

Percy’s heart got heavier the closer he got to the new Hades cabin. Maybe Hades was joking, maybe he wouldn’t have to leave his dad’s cabin… but what if he wasn’t... Percy new he’d have to comply if he was ordered to, but it would hurt. He’d miss the grey walls incrusted with seashells, and the little fountain his father had gifted him. He stopped mid-step. What else could he order him to do? He said any rules or orders, those could be anything! But for his mom…

“Percy! Come on! He’s not going to wait forever. I want to see what style he chose to go with!” Annabeth said, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him towards the new cabin that was covered in a black veil.   
Nico was giving a little speech, but Percy didn’t hear a word of it. His ears were ringing, and he was focused on trying to keep his breaths even, squeezing Annabeth’s hand like a life line. She looked at him, a question in her eye, but Percy just shrugged it off with a smile. 

Then the sheet came down. Percy breathed a sigh of relief. No one was looking at him strangely like he had a claim over his head, and Hades didn’t pop up shouting that Percy would be his son’s bunk buddy. Everything was ok, for now. With that worry gone, he could finally focus on the cabin.  
The cabin was impressive, walls as black as night, with a grand entrance topped with a skull, flaming torches on with side of the door. ‘The green flames added a nice touch of color’, Percy thought, surprised at how welcoming it looked.

After everyone had looked inside, they began to disperse to their different cabins or activities. Percy and Annabeth had wandered off towards the lake, hands clasped tightly together. 

“I thought it looked quite nice, a little spooky perhaps, but for Hades cabin it had a nice look to it,” Annabeth said. Then proceeded to talk about the architecture of the building.

“You thought it was ‘spooky’ looking?” Percy interrupted, swinging their arms lightly in thought. Percy guessed after so long of imagining being forced to live in the underworld, he had made it out to be a lot scarier than it was. So it was a pleasant surprise to see how good the cabin looked. 

“You didn’t?” she asked, slightly confused. She thought Percy hated it in the underworld, and therefore wouldn’t care much for the look of it.

Percy sat and pulled Annabeth down so that she was sitting next to him on the grass by the water. “No. Actually, I thought it looked nice, welcoming…” he said, trailing off in thought. Annabeth didn’t remember being unconscious in the underworld. She thought they had left his mom there, and Hades in a fit of kindness released her after they had returned Zeus’ lightning bolt. Percy knew that he should have told her the truth, but whenever he was about to, he just couldn’t… It was private. So long as Hades didn’t make him move into his cabin, no one had to know. 

“Anyway, you were talking about the construction of the roof, right,” Percy said, a small sad smile played on his face when he realized his distraction plan had worked. 

He listened to Annabeth talk for another hour about different things before leading her back to her cabin, kissing her goodnight before wandering back to his. As he passed the Hades cabin, he had the weird urge to go inside. Well, Nico did say he was going back to the underworld tonight. He looked around to make sure he was the only one outside before cautiously walking towards the black building, slightly ominous in appearance now that there wasn’t any sunlight. 

Percy slowly began to open the door leading into the one place was both scared and excited to enter. He had the door open about a foot when his courage began to fail him. ‘Maybe I should just go back’ he thought. Mind finally made up, Percy turned to leave when a hand reached out of the darkness and pulled him inside.


	2. Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer (because I forgot in the first chapter): not mine

Nico glared down at Percy, who had let out a panicked yelp before falling into an undignified heap on the floor, in annoyance. “Ok, seriously…” Nico said, “First my dad is acting weird and making strange requests, and then I find you trying to sneak into my cabin! Mind telling me just what is going on between you guys?”

Percy distracted himself by slowly getting up off the floor, hoping to give himself enough time to think of a plausible excuse for what he had been trying to do. It wasn’t like he could say “I wanted to look around because I made a deal with your dad years ago, and, after years of wondering what it would be like to be trapped in the underworld as a slave, I’m starting to gain a terrifying attraction to all things dark and mysterious”, yeah, that would go down well.

“Wait! What!” Percy shouted, finally registering Nico’s words. “What sort of requests?”

Now Nico was awfully curious as to what was going on. His dad had been acting stranger than usual lately, and Percy always looked a little uneasy whenever his dad got mentioned. “I want answers before I tell you what he wants. What is going on between you guys?” he said, keeping his face carefully blank.

Percy shifted uneasily. ‘Should I tell him?’ he asked himself, “Can I tell him is a better question dumbass! Hades never said I couldn’t tell anybody, and it’d be a huge weight off my shoulders. Plus, Nico’s his son; he’s bound to find out sometime soon anyway…’    

“Umm… Well, you see,” Percy started, “it’s a bit of a long story.”

Nico raised an eyebrow.

Percy plopped down onto one of the coffin like beds that were stationed across the room. ‘Fitting’ he thought morbidly. “So, I may have made a… deal, with your dad,” Percy said, softly. Staring at one of the many decorative (or at least he hoped they were decretive) skulls that were placed in small niches in the pillars lining the insides of the spacious cabin, praying that Nico would just leave it at that.

“What kind of ‘deal’,” Nico inquired, voiced filled with apprehension.

Silence filled the dimly lit room for what felt like an eternity.

During that time, emotions built up inside Percy as he thought about that day. All the fear and anxiety that had plagued him since then. Eventually it exploded out of him. “I gave myself to him!” he shouted, glaring at the floor with hate and despair. “I sold myself to him for my mother’s soul…”

Nico took a step back. His usually stoic face covered in undisguised horror. “My d-dad did that to y—“

“No!” Percy interrupted quickly, realizing that Nico had misinterpreted his words. “He never made me do anything like that. The only thing he’s had me do is keep an eye on you when we first met (like I did that well…), but other than that, nothing. Well, aside from prayers to him at meals and stuff, the occasional Iris message, and he put—” Percy stopped talking for a second, noticing that he had begun to reveal something he swore to never talk about. “I’m more like a servant? Slave? I don’t know which. I just can’t disobey any of his orders or he can withdraw on our deal and reclaim my mother’s soul.”

Nico gazed at Percy with eye’s brimming with sympathy. “When did this happen?” he asked, after a few moments of silence, keeping his voice gentle so as not to startle the dejected teen still sitting on the bed.

“When I was eleven,” Percy said dejectedly. Look up into Nico’s eyes for the first time since he got into the cabin, he asked the question that’d been bothering him since Nico asked about him and Hades, “How did you find out there was something between us, anyway? I thought we were the only ones that knew.”

Nico stared into miserable, searching blue-green eyes. “My dad asked me to bring you to him tonight,” he said. He was worried. His dad never seemed to show any sort of emotions towards Percy except that of anger because of the whole Big Three Prophecy, now he finds out they Percy is… enslaved, by his dad. He had to wait and gather more information before he could act. He knew Percy was still hiding something, but wasn’t willing to press him for more.

“I guess you should take me to him then,” Percy said, after a moment of silence. This was the first time Hades ever demanded an audience with him, it had to be important. And Percy certainly wasn’t about to reject his order.  

Nico’s heart crumbled seeing Percy fold in on himself in worry. “Percy, if you don’t want to go, I can tell my dad I couldn’t retrieve you tonight,” he said, silently hoping that Percy would take him up on the offer.

Percy just gave him a small, wince inducing smile. “Thanks, but I better go. I have to go,” Percy said, getting to his feet shakily, but with a determined gleam in his eyes.

“Alright,” Nico said, extending his arm in Percy’s direction.

“I’m sorry you got dragged into this, Nico,” Percy said, too quietly to hear as he took ahold of the jacket clad arm extended to him.   

“Hold on tight,” Nico said, as he pulled them into the shadows to the underworld.

***

Percy gazed around them in fear and wonder. Nico had taken them to the palace gardens instead of the throne room like he had expected. There were trees, and beautiful flowering, leafy and thorny plants all around, the dark, jagged, cave-like walls with precious gems poking out of in various places only seemed to enhance the color of the vibrant foliage surrounding them. “Wow!” Percy murmured.

“I’m glad the underworld’s garden pleases you, Perseus,” a smoky voice said, causing both Percy and Nico to whip their heads in its direction.

“Nico, if you would please leave us, Percy and I need to have an important discussion about a private topic,” the lord of the underworld said, never once taking his eyes off of Percy’s form while he talked.

Nico went to argue, knowing that Percy could use the support of having a friend with him, when a gentle squeeze on his arm stopped him. He turned to look at the son of Poseidon, one of the few people he considered himself close to.

“It’s alright, Nico. I’ll be ok,” Percy said, stoically.  

“If you sure,” Nico said, not believe for a second that Percy would be ‘ok’. With one last glare towards his dad, he shadowed away.

With his support now gone, Percy turned to face Hades, god of the underworld.

“…Hey,” he said.

‘Oh! Great going you stupid seaweed brain! That doesn’t make you sound awkward at all,’ Percy berated himself.

Hades chuckled lightly, Percy was still the same. ‘Well, not quite,’ he thought appreciatively, taking another good eyeful of the demigod. The jeans he was wearing showed off his bum quite nicely, it was a slight shame that Percy had turned to face him, but only slight.  

“Take a turn with me while we talk?” Hades asked.

Percy stared at the god in confusion. “A what?” he said.

Hades failed to suppress a chuckle, the boy never failed to amuse him. “A walk, Perseus,” he said.

“Oh…” Percy said, scratching his neck in an attempt to calm his nerves. “Sure.”

They walked quietly for a few minutes, Percy looking at all the strange plants he’d never seen before and thinking of how Grover could probably name every single one. He would love it down here, well, the garden part at least not the death and torture area that Percy occasionally caught a glimpse of through the trees.

 Hades was appreciating the chance to ogle the distracted young man next to him. He loved being able to appreciate the beauty of the young man before him, it took so long for Percy to finally reach this age, and Hades wasn’t going to wait a moment longer for the demigod. After all, he had to get Percy back to camp before sunrise.

Decision made, it was time to break the peaceful silence that had fallen amongst them whilst they had been walking. “Perseus, do you know why I asked Nico to bring you here?” He said, drawing Percy out of whatever the he had been thinking about.

“N-not quite, but does it have to do with the— your c-cabin being finished?” Percy stuttered, nerves getting the best of him.

Hades smiled. “Partially, yes,” he said, grabbing the demigod’s arm, pulling him to a stop. “It is time for you to move into my cabin. You have a week to do so starting today.”

Percy gulped. He really couldn’t say anything to fight against the order. He knew it was coming after all. “Thank you, for giving me time to move in,” Percy said, meekly. He was lucky. Hades could have made him move in as soon as he got back. At least he didn’t mention the other thing.

“The reason I’m giving you a week is because I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much at once,” Hades said.

Percy’s head jerked up. “There’s more?” he said, looking the god in the eyes for the first time since he got there.

“The other task I have for you may be a bit more difficult. You need to break up with your girlfriend, Annabeth,” Hades said, a smile gracing face. He tried to keep it looking gentle instead of smug, but wasn’t sure if he has succeeding.

Percy was bewildered. “Y-You want me to— I have to—,” Percy couldn’t even finish a sentence with how tangled his thoughts were. He and Annabeth had been dating several months, and they were the happiest months of his life. And now he had to throw it away?

“Why?” Percy choked out, “Why do I have to break up with her?”

Hades then took Percy’s hand, noticing that it was slight clammy feeling, and removed the thick Mist surrounding his left hand.

Percy jerked his hand away in shock. He quickly looked down at the appendage to see what Hades had done. On his ring finger, a blackish, silver ring with an emerald in the center gleamed at him from its new resting place. “What the—”

“Language,” Hades said.

Percy glared straight into the eyes of the god, no longer filled with apprehension and meekness, but with a mix of fear and boiling rage. “What is this! Is this what you put on me when we made the deal?” he shouted, trying to pulling the offending ring off his hand, but it wouldn’t budge from its resting place.

Hades grasped Percy’s hands in his own. “It’s an engagement ring, and it can only be removed by me,” he said, placing a light kiss on the young man’s knuckles.  

Percy gaped at Hades’ long fingered hands that were covering his own. “Don’t you have a wife? I’m not gonna end up like all those lovers you guys had in history and turn into freaking plant!” Percy stated, pulling his hands away from the god’s.

Hades smirked fondly down at the hunched form of his little love. “You won’t,” he said, “Persephone has already given us her blessing to be wed. She has a lover on Olympus, and we both agree that it is time to find someone new.”

Percy’s head shot up. “Blessing?!” he squeaked. This was too much…  

“Yes,” Hades said, understanding that Percy would be upset for a while before accepting his fate. “I believe that this is enough for tonight,” he continued, “I’m sure you are feeling overwhelmed with everything I’ve told you. I’ll send you back to you cabin now so that you can get some rest. Remember, you have to move into my cabin in a week, and you must tell Annabeth you will no longer be an item before the week is up.”

Percy nodded his head slowly. He felt cold, numb, like someone had dropped him off in the arctic in the middle of winter without a jacket. Maybe the cold would kill him before the morning so he wouldn’t have to think about anything anymore. Hades probably wouldn’t let him die, now that he thought about it. Damn…

“Take care, Perseus,” Hades said, knowing the other boy couldn’t hear him with how wrapped up in his thoughts he was. He then nudged him into the shadow of a nearby tree, watching as he vanished back to Camp Half-Blood.

Percy didn’t even have time to give a shout of surprise before he was back in the familiar gray walls of cabin three. He knew he should change out of his clothes, but couldn’t muster the energy required for such a task, so he flopped down onto the nearest bed and immediately curled up into himself. His head was swimming with everything that had happened in the underworld. From moving, to having to break up, and now he was engaged to a god he had only met in person maybe three times! It was official, the Fates hated him.

He rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, and noticed an addition of cool metal to his fingers sliding along his skin. ‘Right, the ring..’ he thought, taking his hand away from his face to getting a better look at his… engagement ring. The metal was dark silver in color; smooth until it reached the top, where it formed skeletal hands that held aloft a small emerald, like some sort of morbid peace offering for all the suffering it was making Percy go through.

Eventually, Percy’s eyes closed and he fell into a restless sleep filled with dreams of Demeter yelling, and hitting him with different grains for stealing her precious daughter’s husband. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagined that Hades would use a dated way of speaking, hence the term "turn" being used. I kept thinking of Pride and Prejudice the movie while typing Hades scenes (the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy).


	3. Painful Tasks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I said I was going to post this earlier, but life got in the way. Please forgive me!

Nico was worried. His dad never IM’d him last night to pick up Percy, and he was afraid of what might have happened to his friend. As soon as the clock said seven, Nico was out of his cabin and tearing off towards cabin three, praying that he’d find Percy safe and sound inside. He reached the door in what had to be record time, and didn’t bother knocking before barging inside. He promptly tripped over a small pile of armor Percy had left on the floor a couple of days ago in his haste to get to lunch, and fell to the floor with a loud banging crash.

Percy jumped awake. “I don’t want him! Keep your wheat away from me!” Percy shouted deliriously. “Oh! Nico, what are you doing on the floor?” he asked, eyes finally focusing on reality only to see the black clothed teen sprawled across his floor surrounded by old armour.

“Seriously!” Nico said, annoyed. “I take you to the underworld, _leave_ you in said underworld with the god of the dead, stay awake all night worrying about how my dad never called me to come pick you up, and you’re here! I rushed over here to make sure you weren’t fed to Cerberus or something, and here you are sleeping all safe and sound dreaming about getting attacked with wheat!”

Percy froze as everything from last night suddenly came back to him in a flash.

Nico was about to continue ranting when he noticed Percy stiffened, pale form. “Perc, is everything ok? What did my dad want,” he asked, voice soft and filled with concern.

“He— I— We are—“ Percy stuttered, mind working a mile a minute trying to find the words to explain what occurred the night before. Percy held out his left hand, shaking like a leaf as he did so.

Nico stared non-comprehendingly at the ring that now graced Percy’s ring finger.

“He said we’re engaged,” Percy said, voice sounding hollow even to him.

“Nico? Nico, can you hear me?” Percy said, after several minutes passed with Nico just staring dumbly at the ring.

Nico was in shock. His dad forced Percy into an engagement. After everything Percy did for the gods, why couldn’t they just leave him alone! “I’m going to kill him,” he murmured.

“No!” Percy yelled, jumping out of bed to grab onto the murderous teen. “There’s more, and you can’t support me if you’re dead.”

Nico paused. “‘More’, what else did he do,” Nico said, collapsing onto Percy’s bed.

Percy sat next to him. “The first isn’t so bad. I knew it was coming so at least I was prepared for it. I have to move into your cabin with you in a week, I guess he can’t have his… fiancé… living in someone else’s. The second thing is, I have to,” he paused, trying to hold back the sadness and anger he felt. “I have to break up with Annabeth.”

Nico felt a little awkward. He’d never been good at dealing with other people’s emotions, and seeing Percy about to cry it him hard, but he didn’t know what to do. He carefully placed his hand on Percy’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. This appeared to be alright since he glanced over and gave him a small smile.

“You know what’s worse?” Percy said, glaring down at the glimmering ring. “I’ve had this… thing,” he practically spat at the word ‘thing’, “on my hand since I was eleven. I didn’t tell you, but after I said yes your dad took my hand and did something to it. I didn’t notice anything different when he released it, so I questioned him. He said, ‘You will understand when the time comes. But for now, know that is means you are precious to me. This is the one thing you will tell no one about until I reveal what it is to you’. Now he has… yippee…”

Nico grimaced. There was nothing he could do to help his friend. Percy had made the choice to give his life over to a god, and any decision that god made he was forced to follow through with; there was nothing he could do. “Want me to unleash Mrs. O’Leary on him?” Nico said, getting a little chuckle for his efforts.

“Nah, but thanks, Nico, for everything,” Percy said. “I suppose we should head to breakfast, the bell will be ringing soon. Also, why didn’t you just shadow over here last night?”

“I didn’t think of that…” Nico said, bowing his head. “What are you going to do about the ring?”

Percy sighed. “I can’t hide it, the mist on it must have been super thick for no one to have noticed it before now, and there’s no way we can cover it again. Besides, I don’t think your dad would like that too much,” Percy said, voice turning morose towards the end.

“What about if Annabeth sees it?” Nico didn’t want to mention it, but Annabeth was sharp, she was bound to notice it sooner rather than later.

Percy frowned. “I guess I’ll have to break up with her sooner than I thought…” he said, tightly.   

“Will you be alright,” Nico inquired, already knowing the answer.

Percy didn’t answer. He thought of all the fun, happy memories he’d made with Annabeth over the past few months. Annabeth’s laugh, the way her hair shone in the sunlight, her eyes brighten when she’s talking about architecture or the different designs on Daedalus’ laptop, the sweet kisses she’d give him when he said something that actually made sense. Gods this hurt!

“Go talk to her, I’ll be waiting for you at the tables, alright?” Nico said, exiting the cabin with a backwards glance, heart breaking at the sight of his once crush looking lost and alone.

Percy just nodded. After Nico left, he slowly shuffled his feet out the door, heading in the direction of the Athena cabin. He and Annabeth had been meeting up in front of her cabin since camp started this summer. It started out as an accident when Percy had showed up outside of the cabin on the first full day of camp because Annabeth had left her sunglasses in his cabin the day before, and it had just stuck as a morning routine. It might be a little old fashioned, for the guy to pick up the girl, but Annabeth thought of it as sweet so he kept doing it. Now this would be the last time he would get to do so.

“Moring Percy! I’ll go get Annabeth for you, just a sec.”

Percy heard one of Annabeth’s sisters say before she ran off inside to collect his soon to be ex-girlfriend. His legs tensed as if ready to run, he didn’t want this!

“Morning seaweed brain!” Annabeth said, coming out of the cabin. She walked over, ready to kiss her boyfriend good morning, but Percy pulled away from her as if she was acid.

“Sorry,” Percy said, trying to shove his left hand deeper into his pocket than it already was, “Um… I need to talk to you. Can we go by the lake before breakfast?”

Annabeth frowned, something was seriously wrong. Percy always greeted her with a smile and a kiss in the mornings, and today he wasn’t even looking her in the eye. “Yeah, let’s go.” She said, taking Percy’s hand, making a note of how sweaty it was.

Percy panicked all the way to the lake. What was he supposed to say! ‘Hey, I can’t date you anymore because apparently I’ve been engaged to a god since I was eleven. Let’s still be friends though’? Yeah, right. He was screwed.

“What did you want to talk about?” Annabeth asked as they approached the docks.

Percy pulled them to a stop. He was the one who agreed to a deal not knowing all the consequences, now he had to own up to the fact that his life wasn’t his own anymore, hadn’t been for a long time. Hades may be the one who said he had to break up, but Percy agreed to do anything and everything the god said. He couldn’t put the blame on anyone else but himself. 

“Annabeth,” Percy started, touching her hair gently one last time before pulling his hand away, “we can’t be together anymore.” Gods! His heart felt like it was breaking into pieces.

Annabeth didn’t know what to say. She thought they were doing good, great even. What had changed, why was Percy suddenly break up with her. She wouldn’t let this go without a damn good explanation. “Tell me why?” she said.

Percy felt tears building up in his eyes. He should have known Annabeth wouldn’t accept it without knowing all the facts. He didn’t want to explain, he didn’t want to think about Hades, the stupid ring on his finger or the way Annabeth was glaring up at him with hurt and determination.

“We can’t be together anymore, alright,” Percy said. He didn’t realize how harsh he sounded until he saw Annabeth’s stricken, tearful eyes.

“Alright, Percy,” She said gently, which only caused Percy’s heart to ache more than he thought was possible. “But I’m not giving up on you until you give me a real reason for this breakup.” And with that, she stalked off towards the mess hall.

Percy collapsed onto the ground once Annabeth was out of sight, struggling to breathe. He was unsure how long he sat there for, time unimportant as he watched the ants wander across the ground through blurry eyes. Eventually, Nico wandered over and sat next to him not saying anything, just keeping him quiet company.

“Nico, will you help me move my stuff into your— our cabin? I don’t think I can wait a week for another heartbreak,” Percy said, voice raspy from crying, almost an hour after the other boy had sat down.

Nico smiled sadly, knowing the other wasn’t looking in his direction. He promised himself that no matter what Percy needed, he’d always be right there to offer a hand.  

“Yea, I can.” He said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been in a relationship, so the breakup scene was probably lacking in some regards. I've started writing chapter four, but I can't guarantee that it'll be posted anytime soon. I'll try, but... life.


	4. Hopefully This Doesn't End in Disaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for an ooc-ness.

Nico held a soft, blue hoodie in his hands as he watched Percy pack away the small knickknacks that were lying around the room robotically. His moves were jerky, and his eyes, when he picked up something that reminded him of Annabeth, his eyes… Nico couldn’t help looking at the ground whenever he caught Percy’s gaze when that happened, the only time he’d seen eyes like that were when he was wandering though the Mourning Fields*; Pain, bordering on torture, loss, regret, longing.

Nico continued to place the clothes from the dresser into Percy beat up, old suitcase in silence. It hurt, and at this moment he would like nothing more than to shadow down to the underworld and whack his old man in the face, with a shovel. Percy didn’t deserve this. If his dad wanted Percy all to himself he should have told Percy to never date, instead he let him fall in love before cruelly taking it away from him.

“I’m done with the clothes,” he said, waiting for Percy to tell him what else needed to be packed.

“Oh!” Percy said, jolting in surprise. He’d forgotten that Nico was there with him as he lost himself in his head. “The armor is all old, and needs to be returned to the armory. Um, I think this is it,” he said, gently placing the items he’d collected in his suitcase before closing it.

“Thanks again, Nico,” Percy said, pulling his suitcase off the bed, “I’m not sure I could have done this without you.”

Unsure of what to say, Nico just gave a small, reassuring smile as he picked up the other half of Percy’s luggage, and walked out of the cabin.

A few people, who were loitering around the common area, watched them with confused looks as they made their way to Hades’ cabin. Once inside the dark walls, Percy and Nico plopped the luggage down onto one of the empty beds towards the front of the room, and slowly began the unpacking process.

“So, how did Annabeth take it?” Nico asked after several minutes of stifled silence.

Percy’s grip on the clothes he was holding tightened, wrinkling the previously pristinely folded camp shirt. “She said that she wasn’t giving- giving up on us,” Percy said, hoarsely. He carefully placed the shirt in the black dresser by his new bed, and then mechanically reached over to repeat the process with a blue one.

“I couldn’t tell her I was engaged. I just… I just couldn’t… I was going to ask her this year, before camp ended to,” he paused, taking a moment to calm down before he could start crying, “I wanted to ask her to move in with me. Maybe propose. I can’t afford a ring right now, but I figured I could ask her anyway. Buy a nice ring once I’d saved up the money, you know?” Percy added after a minute of awkward silence. He didn’t want to talk about any of this, but now that he’d started, he just couldn’t seem to stop.

“We’d get a little apartment close to my mom and Paul’s place. It wouldn’t be the nicest, but it’d be our castle until she graduated collage and became a famous architect. Then she’d design our future house, complete with room for our three kids. We’d talked about that. Did you know that? She wants three kids. Maybe two, but she wouldn’t say no to another. We would have grown old, raising our kids to be kickass brainiacs like their mom. The kids would move out, get married, and bring their children over to visit their grandparents on the weekend, “Percy said quietly, voice barely above a whisper.

“Now that dream is gone,” Percy said, voice rising in anger. Slowly getting louder with each word he spoke. “He took my life from me! I was going to be happy! The gods couldn’t fuck with me anymore! Now I’m all set to marry a _man_ that’s well over _two thousand_ years older than me? I’ll be stuck in a loveless marriage for eternity because I’ll undoubtedly be made immortal, and even if I wasn’t, I couldn’t kill myself because my husband will be the god of the freaking underworld!”

Nico watched Percy with ever growing pained sympathy in his eyes. “You’d- You would really kill yourself to escape this marriage?” He said, this throat constricting painfully at the thought.

“No…” Percy said, crumpling down onto the bed. “I couldn’t do that. I know that people care about me, and it would kill them if I died. Emotionally, if not literally, and I couldn’t put that pain on anyone.”

Nico nodded slowly, his worries easing somewhat. “So what did you tell Annabeth, if you didn’t tell her the truth?” he said, still curious about what had happened.

Percy gave a slightly hysterical chuckle. “I don’t even really remember now. I think it was something along the lines of ‘we can’t be together’ without any explanation. No wonder she isn’t giving up on us, I literally gave he no reasoning.” Percy gave another self-deprecating laugh before rolling onto his back to stare blindly up at the ceiling. 

They stayed there, in that almost, but not quite, awkward silence for a couple of minutes. Eventually, Percy pulled himself off the bed, returning to unpacking his belongings.

***

By the time they had finished moving Percy completely into his new cabin, lunch had long gone, Percy had missed all of his camp counselor duties, and the dinner bell had just begun ringing in the distance.

“We’d better get to dinner,” Nico said, gripped Percy’s shoulder briefly before walking past him out the door.

Percy took a deep breath before following his black clad friend.

The noise from the dining hall cut off as Percy and Nico stepped into the pavilion.  

Percy immediately headed over to the Poseidon table, only to be corrected by Nico quietly clearing his throat. He slowly turned and changed directions over to the, fairly new, Hades table. He felt a little bitter at Nico for reminding him that even his choice of seating wasn’t his own to make, but also a tiny bit grateful for not angering Lord Hades so early in their (forced) engagement.

The whole dining hall exploded in loud chatter as Percy took his seat. Percy stared doggedly at the table top, trying to ignore the gossip surrounding him, but it was almost impossible as everything revolved around him missing and Annabeth’s red rimmed eyes and bad mood.

“Percy Jackson!”

Percy nearly fell of the table bench in fright. Nothing good ever came from Mr. D getting his name right.   

“After dinner, meet me at the big house, I believe you have something to tell me,” Mr. D said, sounding irate.

“Yes sir,” Percy said, just loud enough to be heard.

This announcement started up a whole new wave of gossip. Percy both desired and dreaded the end of dinner. He gave his offering to the gods along with everyone else, offering an apology to his dad and a firm, bitter filled “I hope you’re happy” to Hades.

***

Dinner ended far too quickly for Percy liking. Or maybe it ended too quickly, since he now had to go meet with Mr. D and Chiron at the Big House. The Fates could go suck it.

Percy and Nico, because Nico refused to let Percy face the firing squad by himself, walked up the steps of the house. Mr. D and Chiron were playing pinochle on the front porch. When they noticed them, Mr. D waved them over, too focused on his hand to actually say anything.

Percy and Nico sat down on the old, white plastic chairs that surrounded the card table, and nervously waited for the god to speak.

“So, Percy,” Mr. D said, causing Percy to flinch at the use of his real name. “I hear you’ve got something important to tell me. And, I’d like an explanation as to why you switched cabins this afternoon.”

“Um...” Percy started, “well, it’s more like Hades has some news for you all, and I just happened to be involved in it.”       

“Right,” Mr. D said, stretching out the word for longer than humanly possible.

“Well, I may have— I might have— I made a deal with Hades when I was eleven, and, um, now we’re sort of e-engaged,” Percy said.

Mr. D spat out the sip of diet coke he’d taken. “You’re what?!” he screeched!

“Mind explaining, Percy,” Chiron said, looking worried, but maintaining a calm voice.

“You mean to tell me, that you didn’t skip your duties to move in with your new beau!? You’re actually engaged to mister dark and mysterious himself?” Mr. D demanded.

The weather was taking a drastic turn for the worse outside of the safety boarders of the camp, and the wind picked up alarmingly. Campers were running around or staring in confusion as the ground rumbled and cracked while waves angrily crashed against the beach, and lightning flashed overhead.  

“Guys, stop!” Percy yelled, realizing the gods were about to go all out. “Let me explain before you start another freaking war! I can promise you I won’t be fighting on anyone’s side!”

Once the world around them calmed, slightly, Percy started his tale from what happened in the underworld when he was eleven till now. “So that’s why I moved my stuff, and missed my work. I’m really sorry about that, but I couldn’t— I couldn’t face the day after what happened,” Percy finished, his voice fading slightly.

Chiron and Mr. D both gave him sympathetic looks. They had all thought that Percy had managed to escape the misery of having a god fall for them. Now, they realized he had been ensnared before his first summer at camp had finished.

Chiron went to speak, but before the first word had even left his mouth, Percy interrupted him. “I don’t want anyone interfering with this, gods or mortals. I made the deal; it was a trick, a dirty underhanded trick, but I agreed to it. I won’t have anyone else getting hurt because of me,” he said, holding his head high, staring both immortals in the eye, “I won’t.”

“Dionysius, Percy, you need to come to Mount Olympus.”

Everyone turned to stare at Hermes, who was standing on the porch looking grim.

“Why?” Percy asked, as Mr. D nodded in understanding.

Hermes shook his head in exasperation. “You just said that you’re engaged to Hades. Now, you may be upset with it, but think about how all of the gods are feeling. Hades, someone who we are just starting to accept into our circle again, has claimed the greatest demigod in who knows how long for himself. It’s not going to be a pretty meeting, I can tell you that, but Zeus and Poseidon are both demanding your presences.

 “Fu—!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Mourning Fields is a place in the underworld where people who have wasted their lives on unrequited love go. I thought this was a good representation of what Nico would see in Percy's eyes, because even though Percy's love is requited, he'll never be able to be with her, and that is just as painful.


	5. Arguments and Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry this is so late, I'm just really slow at updating. Hope you all enjoy the new chapter!

Percy was shaking as he pressed the button in the elevator for Mount Olympus. This was going to be worse than all those times he told the gods off, he knew it. Why couldn’t the Fates find a new chew toy? Did he have a sign on his back saying “kick me” or something? The elevator dinged, and the slid open soundlessly, allowing Percy to step out cautiously. Hermes was waiting for him a few steps away, still appearing upset. He motioned for him to follow, walking towards the throne room of the gods.

‘Well, you got nothing left to lose, right?’ Percy thought walking a few steps behind the messenger god.

Stepping into the Throne room was more intimidating than any other time Percy had been in there. The gods were all seated on their thrones (Hermes having quickly taking his seat after leading Percy inside), and almost of them were glaring loathingly at Hades.

The few who looked unbothered by the news were: Aphrodite, Persephone, Hestia, who sat by the large hearth and offered a small wave to Percy who nervously waved back, and surprisingly Hera.

Zeus looked like he’d just swallowed a whole lemon, and Poseidon was glaring so hard a Hades that Percy was sure he was trying to make the other god spontaneously combust.

Zeus leveled his gaze on the demigod. “Why did you not notify us of this deal earlier?” he demanded.

Percy glared up at the god. “If you were listening earlier, you would know that I was unaware of my engagement until yesterday,” he said, angry that he was forced to explain the situation again. 

Zeus only seemed to get angrier. “I mean the whole deal!”

“Because it wasn’t any of your business,” Percy said, just managing to refrain from yelling, “I made the deal, it was my responsibility to follow it through, and no one else needed to get involved!”

Hera cut in before Zeus could say anything that would get both Poseidon and Hades worked up. “I find it admirable that you are following through with the deal. I have known since the engagement started that you would be with Hades, and I admire your determination to keep the vows that come with it. I will happily bless your union when it happens. While I am not proud of Persephone and Hades,” here she glared at the two gods, “for not following through with their vows, their divorce was a mutual decision. I cannot fully agree with it, but I understand not wanting to be married to someone who does not love you,” she said, turning her eyes briefly towards Zeus.

Percy listened to her in confusion. Before he could ask why she would bless their “union” if she thought that way, she spoke again.

“That is a story for another time, young Perseus,” she said, stony faced as ever, but her eyes held a deep sadness.   

“He’s my son! He should be allowed to marry who he wants not be stuck with Hades because of some stupid deal he tricked him into!” Poseidon yelled. “He’s in love with that Annabeth girl. And while I wish it wasn’t a daughter of Athena he fell in love with, it’s still better than my brother!”

“Oh please!” Artemis said, “It’s not like you haven’t slept with demigods before.”

“It’s different!” Poseidon responded, angrily.

“No, it’s not!” Several others yelled back.

Percy wasn’t sure who officially started it, but one of the gods made a comment about Poseidon and Zeus’ inability to keep it in their pants, whereas Hades’ is actually able to keep his promises for longer than five years, leading the whole throne room to descend into chaos as each of the gods started to defend their honor.

Percy was starting to think that maybe getting fried by someone turning into their god-form would be better than listening to this for all eternity. He jumped slightly when a gentle hand was placed on his forearm.

“Would you like to sit by my fire?” Hestia asked, already leading him towards the warm hearth. “It’s always the same with them… They’re all alike, they are. Well, some, like Hera and Artemis aren’t, but their egos are just as big.” She laughed as she pulled him into sitting on the warm brick ledge of the fireplace.

Percy stared at the fire. He felt home, safe. An unusual feeling when he could still here the other gods yelling, but he opted to ignore them in favor of curling up next to the fire and drinking the cup of blue tinted tea that Hestia had given him shortly after he’d sat down.

“Can I ask you something,” he asked, turning to look at the kind goddess.

“Go ahead,” she said.

“We’ll be married and all, but will… will I be happy?” Percy asked, faintly. If anyone could answer this question, it would be the goddess of families.

Hestia studied him intently for a moment. “It won’t be easy at first, but if you allow yourself to move on, I believe that, in time, you may find happiness with him.”

Percy nodded. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was something.

“Now,” the goddess said, getting to her feet, “you should go stop this argument before we have another war.”

Percy jolted as the noise of the fighting gods penetrated his ears.

“You’re a dirty, thieving bastard, Hades! Percy should have been allowed to make his own decision about this!”

“I did!” Percy yelled, putting an instant halt to the verbal battle taking place. He glared at his father. “I made the decision. I was deceived, yes, but that is no one’s fault but my own, as I have said before. Now, I want this to stop! You gods have meddled with my life enough! I swore on the River Styx to marry Hades, and that is what I’m going to do. I’m sure it won’t be easy at first, but,” he quickly glanced at Hestia, who smiled reassuringly at him, “I think, that if we try, we’ll be ok.”

“But Percy,” Poseidon started.

“No, Dad!” Percy interrupted. “I know _you guys_ don’t take promises on the River Styx seriously,” he said, glaring at all the gods, “but we demigods have to. I’m done with this. There is nothing you can do but let it happen. And, hey! You guys should be happy; I’m finally going to be immortal like you all wanted. It’s late, and I’d like to go to bed, goodnight.” He turned on his heal, offered another smile towards Hestia, and walked out of the throne room. Luckily, he had a few drachma in his pocket for taxi fare otherwise his cool exit would have been totally ruined by having to ask for a lift back to camp. Though he wasn’t too fond of the grey sisters, they were better than the gods at this point in time.

After Percy’s dramatic exit, the gods sat dumbfounded for a few minutes. Poseidon took a deep breath before turning to Hades.

“You better treat my son right, Hades, or I’ll make the underworld look like an underground water park,” he threatened.

“I plan on treating him like the treasure he is,” Hades responded coolly. “If we are finished here, I have work to recommence.”

Once Hades left, the other gods decided to leave as well. Most of them unhappy and disappointed, many had plans to seduce the young demigod away from Annabeth and into their bed, but they all knew Percy would never break his marriage vows nor did they desire to see him punished for failing to keep his promise, leaving their plans in ruins.

***

Percy returned to Camp around one in the morning. Not the best time to walk into camp since the Harpies are out, ready to eat campers breaking curfew, but he could blame the gods if he died since they couldn’t hold a meeting in the morning like normal mortals.

Surprisingly, Nico was standing by Thalia’s pine waiting for him.

“Nico, what are you doing out here” he asked.

“My dad IM’d me saying you might need some help getting back into camp tonight. Let’s get back to the cabin,” he said, grabbing Percy’s arm, shadowing them into their cabin.

Nico let go of Percy’s arm, and sat down on one of the unclaimed beds. “So… how’d it go?” he asked, check to make sure Percy didn’t have any visible injuries.

Percy flopped onto his new bed. “It was boring actually. They mainly argued while Hestia and I drank tea and talked,” he said, staring up at the black ceiling. “I eventually had to remind them that I made an unbreakable promise, and that they should just shut up before walking out.”

“You walked out on the GODS!” Annabeth yelled, causing both boys to scream in fright as she appeared standing by one of the pillars, her Yankees hat in her hand.

“What are you doing in here?” Nico demanded, after collecting himself.

Percy, meanwhile, was thinking of so many different things at once that it was hard to focus on anything. How had she gotten in here? Why was she here? Did she know? Her next words startled him into the present.

“I wanted to find out how the meeting went,” she said.

Percy tensed. She knew… He couldn’t deal with this.

“It’s alright, Percy,” she said, reassuringly, “I understand why you broke up with me. I’m not mad. Well, I am, but not really at you.”

“H-how did you find out?” he asked, in a strained voice.

“I eavesdropped on you while you talked to Mr. D,” She said.

Percy should have guessed that’s what she did. Nobody could keep information from his Annabeth for long. She was smart like that. Percy smiled fondly, before remembering that she was no longer his, causing him to frown again. He was happy that Annabeth wasn’t mad at him, but wasn’t sure he could be around her. He’d want to hold her hand or kiss her, but couldn’t, if he slipped up once, Hades would surely kill her in a jealous rage.  

Annabeth and Nico watched the conflicting feelings pass over Percy face for a few minutes, before Nico decided to break the silence.

“You should probably be getting back to your cabin, Annabeth. It’s been a long day, and I’m sure _we_ could use all the sleep we can get,” he said, hoping understood.

“Right,” she said, hopping to her feet, and walking towards the door, “Goodnight Nico, Seaweed Brain.”

“Goodnight,” they said, though Percy’s was tinged with sadness.

Percy rolled over onto his side too empty feeling to actually care about getting under the covers. “Goodnight, Nico,” he mumbled.

“Goodnight,” Nico said, turning off the lights. He worried about how well Percy would actually sleep that night, but there was nothing he could do to make his friend feel better, and that only served to make him feel useless. “I’m sure tomorrow will be better than today.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please, let me know what you think in the comments. Constructive criticism is welcome.


End file.
